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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22532608">Behind Blue Eyes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsheart/pseuds/Wolfsheart'>Wolfsheart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel, Marvel (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, X-Men - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Consensual Sex, Consensual sleepy sex, Emma Frost has an amazing shower, Emma Frost has expensive tastes, Emma Frost wearing a man's suit, Emma Frost wearing a suit, Emma and Loki become BFFs, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Gender Shifting, M/M, Making fantasies happen, Mutual Pining, Pegging, Pining, Psychic Abilities, Psychic Manipulation, Sex Toys, Sex Toys Under Clothing, Shapeshifting, Shower Sex, Sleepy Kisses, Sleepy Sex, Strap-Ons, Telepathic shapeshifting, Telepathic suggestions</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 09:14:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,142</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22532608</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsheart/pseuds/Wolfsheart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While avoiding both unrequited love and Tony Stark, the White Queen and the Frost Prince spend a hot night together with so many possibilities.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Emma Frost &amp; Loki, Emma Frost/Scott Summers, Loki/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Marvel Rare Pair Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Behind Blue Eyes</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The inspiration for this fic came from <a href="https://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr7rg1I0oZ1qffe1lo1_1280.jpg">this panel from Dark Reign: The Cabal #1</a>.  I will warn anyone looking for the f/f pairing of Lady Loki/Emma Frost that it doesn't happen in this story.  This image was just the delicious inspiration for the fic.  As far as where this fic falls within my other Marvel fics, consider this to be among <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/805373">Mistletoe</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/316012">Never Piss Off a Telepath; Or How Logan Opened His Mouth and Said a Stupid Thing</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/294483">Baby, It's Cold Outside</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/409873">Peanut Butter</a>, <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/1118516">Emma's Revenge</a>, and <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/277477">Reach Out and Touch Faith</a>.  </p><p>The dialogue in italics at the beginning is taken in whole from <em>New X-Men 139</em>.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>"The gaze of the Phoenix is like an x-ray tearing through every self-deception.  So <strong>burn</strong>, Emma.” </em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Emma hissed as the cup burned her bottom lip, and she set it down with a scowl.  Yes, she’d wanted hot tea, but she hadn’t needed it to come out boiling or to bring back the moral condemnation that still echoed in her memories.  If Robert were here, she’d ask him to cool it down for her, but he wasn’t.  She knew what was in his thoughts, and she sincerely doubted that he would join her at a café for an afternoon drink. </p><p>Would any of them? </p><p>She almost laughed out loud to herself when she realized that one person who might was the one person who offered her some of the only comfort throughout the whole debacle.  <em>Logan</em>.  However, she was as aware as one of his claws punched through her chest that he was like the others, too busy wrapped up in a woman who could have prevented everything that had happened, if only she’d been thinking with her head and not jealous little heart of hers. </p><p>And everyone thought Emma was the ice queen. </p><p>Leaning back in the metal patio chair, Emma crossed one leg over the other and flipped through the latest <em>Numéro</em> while she ‘listened’ to the others around her.  It wasn’t exactly the quiet afternoon she might have wanted, but at least, it was a reminder that humans’ gossip was just as juicy at times as mutants’, only human fights didn’t end with someone being blasted or teleported or flung across a room.  When she heard the woman next to her thinking very loudly about the man she’d left, quite literally, tied up in a hotel suite, Emma smirked behind the back of her hand as she pretended to admire one of Vivienne Westwood’s latest dresses, and she kept herself from laughing out loud at the mental image of the lady’s Mr. Wall Street trussed up in a corset, silk stockings, and heels all while apparently <em>not</em> making it on time to the meeting that he and said lady enjoying her macchiato were supposed to attend in half an hour. </p><p><em>Good for her</em>, Emma thought to herself.</p><p>When her tea finally cooled enough that she could take a sip, Emma brought the cup to her mouth again.  She began to filter through the thoughts around her, looking for the ones that were the most interesting, the least angsty – after all, she was here to forget the drama her own life was drowning in – the least trite, the least having to do with jobs and children and love lives...</p><p><em>Dear God, save me from </em>that<em> subject</em>, interjected her own mind, louder than anyone else’s. </p><p>...and she was just about to give up entirely and block everything out in favor of a riveting article about shoes, when she picked up on thoughts that she felt were probably more pertinent than they should be on such a lovely afternoon in the heart of the city. </p><p>
  <em>What does Thor see in her anyway?  Yes, she’s pretty, but she’s hardly his usual interest.  She can’t even wield a proper sword...or axe...or anything that Sif could do certainly.  Sif, at least, could be a match for my brother because they have so much in common but...</em>
</p><p><em>...oh now what?  Going into a bookstore?  A </em>bookstore<em>???</em></p><p>Emma lifted her eyes to look in the direction of the frustrated head-voice, and it didn’t take her long to first spot the huge blond across the street with his arm wrapped like a possessive lumberjack around the narrow waist of a woman dressed as casually in jeans and a t-shirt as the man was.  While she hadn’t encountered all of the Avengers in person, she knew who the blond man was without having to touch his mind with hers, and soon enough she traced the person that the umbrage about the bookstore came from. </p><p>She’d seen Loki enough in the computer files at the institute to recognize what he looked like when he was himself.  When he wasn’t shapeshifted into another person or…a dog.  Even without his Asgardian attire complete with the curled horned helmet, Emma would recognize that face, those high cheekbones, those piercing green eyes.  She’d be lying to herself if she said she didn’t find him attractive, but it was also his mind that intrigued her.  The thoughts moved closer to her, and Emma’s eyes followed the figure dressed in a smart Armani suit, tailored to fit every inch of that body.  Once he stood directly outside the wall that separated the café from the sidewalk, Emma couldn’t resist giving his mind a ‘shoulder-tap’, and when he turned around and raised an eyebrow, she made sure her eyes were once more on her magazine, a slight smile on her face. </p><p>“Good afternoon, Laufey’s son.” </p><p>After a few seconds of him staring at her to place her, Loki returned the smile. </p><p>“Good afternoon, White Queen,” he said. </p><p>Emma finally set down her magazine and nudged the chair across from her with her foot.  “Join me for a drink?”</p><p>Loki glanced over his shoulder at the bookstore. </p><p>“They’ll be in there for a while.  Books, music, movies...and a couple of inferior cups of coffee will keep them inside for a while.  Come on, Loki.  I won’t bite...unless you beg me to,” Emma said.  She watched as the last hesitation dropped from his mind, and he walked around the low wall topped by trimmed azaleas, making his way to her table.  She held his gaze while he took the seat she’d pushed back for him. </p><p>“I must say, Ms. Frost, I’m surprised that you’re not at that school you’ve chosen to waste your talents at,” Loki replied. </p><p>Emma shook her head, her blonde ponytail swishing over her shoulder.  “I’ve given myself a day off.  Perhaps a couple of days.  I haven’t decided yet.  I made sure my students had plenty of homework to keep them busy, but I needed...”  She sighed.  “...a breather.  The last few weeks have been.  Hectic.  To use understatement.” </p><p>Loki smirked.  “Midterms?” </p><p>“More inconvenient.  To make a long story short, I was psychically humiliated by the school’s precious princess, shot with a diamond bullet while in my other ‘skin’ and by one of my ‘daughters’, no less, and the person she betrayed me for, and I was put back together by the very person who hates me as much as I hate her,” Emma explained as she lifted her cup to her lips before finishing her tea.  She touched the thoughts of the waiter and gestured to him without even looking. </p><p>“Well, none of that sounds pleasant,” Loki sympathized and wrinkled his nose.  “But I guess we all have to put up with people who are...less than cooperative in our lives, don’t we?”  Once more he cast a look over his shoulder then returned his attention when a middle aged man with brown hair tied back in a ponytail and wearing the uniform of the café’s employees stepped up to the table. </p><p>“What can I get for you today, sir?” the waiter asked, clasping his prissy hands behind his back. </p><p>Green eyes rested on the man’s round face, taking note of baby smooth feathers where a goatee would, at least, make this manchild look like an adult.  Loki waited for a pad and pen to come out, and when none did, he asked, “Aren’t you going to write down my order?” </p><p>With a smug sniff, the waiter answered, “I don’t need to.  I’ll remember anything you tell me, sir.” </p><p>Taking up the challenge, Loki retorted, “I’d like an Espresso Con Panna with seven sugars, four shots of hazelnut, six shots of peppermint, two shots of coconut, and extra cream.  Also two sprinkles of cinnamon and four of nutmeg...”</p><p>“...four nutmeg, sir?”</p><p>“Did I stutter?  Yes, four of nutmeg.  I would like two chocolate biscotti...no wait.  Listen.  Two chocolate biscotti crushed up and mixed in the drink.  Is that clear?” </p><p>The waiter’s cheek muscles twitched at the order, and he did his best to remember everything just like he said he could.  “Y-yes sir,” he replied.  He turned to Emma and that’s when he poured on his charm.  “And for the beautiful lady?” he attempted to purr and completely missed Loki rolling his eyes. </p><p>“Tea.  Just tea.  Jasmine,” Emma answered and caught a look of relief, even as the waiter reached for her hand to kiss it.  A mental slap prevented him from completing the transaction.  “With honey.” </p><p>“Of course, my lady,” he replied, giving her what he thought was a sexy grin.  He bowed to her then turned and headed back into the café, completely missing the laughter that followed him.</p><p>It was Emma’s turn to roll her eyes, and she and Loki both chuckled. </p><p>“Wow,” Loki replied.  “That was...” </p><p>“You didn’t see inside his head, darling.  It was...well, imagine if you were chained to a table and someone were dripping something oily and hot over you that just happened to smell of a mixture of every bad cologne in the world, and you couldn’t remove it no matter how many baths you took,” Emma stated. </p><p>The god of mischief wrinkled his nose.  “Ew.” </p><p>“He’s always like that...or worse,” interjected a new voice from a table over.</p><p>Emma and Loki both turned their heads to see a woman in her late thirties, her glasses pushed up on top of her head while she took a drink of her own tea.  Then she shoved them back down and typed a few more lines onto her laptop. </p><p>“You have the misfortune of knowing him?” Loki asked the stranger. </p><p>“I had the misfortune of being married to him,” the woman answered.  That earned a sympathetic look from the other two. </p><p>“Oh.  Oh I’m so sorry,” Emma crooned.  “That’s...how did you stand it?” </p><p>The writer turned her gaze to them, and she shrugged one shoulder.  “Love makes you do stupid things.  The belief that you’re in love makes you do even stupider things.” </p><p>The woman’s words struck Emma deeper than they should have, but she kept that from showing in her face.  After all, what had her last few months been about?  Curious about this human’s wisdom, she peeked easily enough into her mind and what she saw, especially in relation to the smarmy little waiter, made her even more empathetic.</p><p>“Yes.  Love does make us do stupid things,” Emma agreed.  “Obviously, your marriage lasted much longer than it should have.” </p><p>“It died almost as soon as it started, but like Frankenstein, we just kept trying to electrocute it into staying alive,” the writer replied and chuckled at her own metaphor.  “But I could never measure up to the Perfect Woman he had in his mind.” </p><p>Loki was surprised by how interested he was in this mortal woman’s story.  Then again, when she mentioned that she couldn’t measure up, he could relate.  “Oh?  He envisioned you as something other than you could ever be?” he asked. </p><p>She nodded.  “Exactly.  I could never be the big breasted redhead.” </p><p>At the word ‘redhead’, Emma gave a visible flinch.  Even though she’d already sussed that out of the writer’s mind, to hear her own trouble verbalized stung.  “I can...relate to that.”  She drank her cold, bitter tea. </p><p>“Yet, here you are.  At the café where your ex works and very clearly thinks he’s Freyr’s gift to women by the way he flirts.  Badly,” Loki commented. </p><p>The writer laughed.  “They have good coffee here...and the best black forest cake,” she assented with another shrug. </p><p>“And your presence serves to unnerve your ex,” Emma added and grinned when the other writer just smirked and nodded. </p><p>It wasn’t often that Emma met another woman who didn’t grate on her like teeth biting into aluminum foil, but this one was snarky and independent and didn’t, generally, give a shit in regards to what anyone thought about her.  She made up her mind to do something for her; she just didn’t know what yet. </p><p>After a few more comments exchanged between the three people, the waiter returned, a tray held on one palm.  He set the teacup down in front of Emma on top of a napkin, on which he’d written his name and telephone number.  He winked at her then turned to set Loki’s tall cup in front of him.  He waited with the confidence that they would tell him that everything was perfect, already counting the large tip in his mind. </p><p>Emma just left her tea where it sat, though she set her empty cup to the side with the mental shove that the waiter would take it out of the way.  She glanced over and noticed that the writer was typing again, pointedly ignoring her ex. </p><p>Loki, however, picked up his drink, took a sip, and declared, “Ugh.  Well, you got this wrong.  I thought you might.  I distinctly said four shots of hazelnut, not two...and six of peppermint.  This is eight.”  He looked at Emma and the writer and gestured to his cup.  “<em>Eight</em>!  Not to mention that there is only one biscotti in here, and it’s <em>almond</em>, not chocolate.  And there’s not a single sprinkling of cinnamon on here and only one of nutmeg.  This...this...”  He took another drink then set it down and sighed.  “...I should report you to your manager,” the Trickster complained. </p><p>Like a puppy being scolded for piddling on the floor, the waiter’s shoulders drooped at first.  Then they stiffened once more.  “I am sorry, sir.  Would you like me to take it back and get you another?” he asked, the corner of his lip raising in a sneer. </p><p>Sighing and dismissing the waiter like a bug, Loki didn’t even look at him.  “No.  I’ll just deal with it.  No doubt you’d get that one wrong, too, since you have some aversion to writing down the orders.  I just won’t frequent this café again.  At least, not when you’re here.” </p><p>Just as the waiter was about to launch into his full-tilt charm to smooth things over with this picky customer, he was tapped on the shoulder.  When he looked around, the writer stood there, handing him her credit card, which he took reluctantly, as if fearing to touch her. </p><p>“Put their drinks on my bill,” she told him and just arched an eyebrow when he hesitated to follow her request.  When he wandered off, she merely returned to her table and began the process of closing down her computer.  “Obstinate as always,” she muttered.  “And does <em>not</em> like to be thought of as an asshole or an idiot.”  She looked back over at Emma and Loki and smiled at them. </p><p>“Thank you for that,” Emma told her, touched that this stranger would be so generous.  She hadn’t been averse to mentally nudging men in bars to buy her drinks in the past, but this was different. </p><p>“Not a problem.  I’m just sorry he screwed up your order,” the writer replied.  “That sounds very sweet, by the way.  It would send me into automatic diabetic coma,” she joked.  </p><p>Emma watched her companion pick up his drink again.  “You aren’t really going to drink that, are you?”</p><p>Loki gave the two women the cat-eating-the-canary smile, and he waved his hand over the top of his drink before taking another sip of something wholly different than what he’d ordered. </p><p>“Of course not,” he told them.  “I never intended to drink that and knew that I’d improve it once that prissy little man was out of our hair.”  Then he looked at the writer and realized that she hadn’t flinched or looked disturbed at all by the bit of magic he’d just worked on his drink, the remnants of it being a hazy glow hovering over the top before it dissipated.  “Oh.” </p><p>“You aren’t...bothered by magic?” Emma asked the other woman. </p><p>The writer laughed while she slid her laptop into her satchel then finished off her drink.  “I once sat in Central Park to write, and at first, I thought there was an earthquake starting.  Turns out it was the Hulk running through the park to catch...I don’t know.  Someone.  When I looked up, though, it was the Hulk running past me without anything on but Captain America’s shield...strategically placed, even if it was a bit.  Small.”  She cleared her throat.  “Anyway, once you’ve seen Hulk ass, nothing really disturbs you ever again.”  She stood up and shouldered her satchel just as the waiter returned with her card and receipt, which she signed, <em>sans</em> tip.  Once he was gone again, she stuck her credit card in her wallet then stepped over once more to the other table, offering her hand to the other two, who shook gladly.  “Don’t let the peacock bother you.  He’s got that unfortunate stereotypical Napoleon complex.  You know how <em>some</em> short guys can be.” </p><p>Emma laughed.  “Oh yes.  I do know that very well,” she replied.</p><p>After the writer bid them farewell and walked away, Emma and Loki looked at each other. </p><p>“I like her,” they both said in perfect unison. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Half an hour later, Emma and Loki were still sitting at the café.  The waiter had been by twice to check on them, and each time, they’d sent him away.  The second time he walked away, he muttered something about the writer under his breath, and that was when Emma decided to act. </p><p>Just something small. </p><p>A little thing that would take effect as soon as his shift was over. </p><p>Without even having to concentrate, she planted the tiniest suggestion into his mind about what he should do with his life beyond waiting tables.  Then she smiled at Loki when he cocked an eyebrow.</p><p>“A little thank you for the woman who picked up our tab.  That’s all,” Emma replied. </p><p>“You did something, didn’t you?  To his mind?  Feeble and pathetic as it is.”  Loki finished the last of his magically enhanced drink then set the cup on the table. </p><p>Emma pushed her teacup further on the table and trailed a manicured finger around the rim, avoiding the lipstick stain.  “Feeble and pathetic made it that much easier to do what I did,” she answered. </p><p>Loki tilted his head.  “And you won’t divulge what you did, will you, Lady Diamond?”</p><p>She shook her head.  “When I hear about the results of it, and hopefully, there will be video evidence of it, I’ll send you a copy.  Might find a way to send our writer friend a copy, too.  She deserves the giggle.” </p><p>“You’ve got a wicked mind, Ms. Frost,” Loki told her.  “It’s a shame that you’ve decided to use it wholly for good,” he tsked and made her laugh. </p><p>“You underestimate me, Loki.  You really do.  I’m not always that well-behaved.”  Emma leaned back in her chair and studied the attractive Asgardian. </p><p>The trickster just continued to grin, and he leaned his elbows on the table.  “I think I’d like to see the side of you that misbehaves.  Oh but...that’s right.  Weren’t you just telling me that you’re involved with someone?  Pity.” </p><p>Emma tapped her nails on the table.  “It’s...complicated,” she answered.  “I’ve allowed myself to be in a sort of...relationship Limbo at the moment while a certain someone makes up his mind.  To stay in a marriage that is otherwise dead and awaiting burial or to leave his wife, who is more interested in pitting her husband and another man against each other for her own self-esteem.” </p><p>“That hardly seems like something you’d do, Lady,” Loki replied, his features twisting in what could only be called sympathy. </p><p>“A wise person recently said that love makes us do stupid things,” came Emma’s retort, punctuated with an uncharacteristic shrug, and Loki scoffed.  “Oh what?  You haven’t done stupid things because of love?  I seem to recall some rather put out thoughts while you were watching your brother go into the bookstore across the street with his girlfriend.”</p><p>“Please.  That’s not love.  Not like what you’re suffering from,” Loki snapped slightly. </p><p>Emma regarded him and danced around the edges of his thoughts, picking up the crackles of unrequited interest.  “But you are in love with someone.  It’s there, Loki.  It’s in your mind.  I can sense it.  I can even pick out hazes images of the person you want.  He even seems familiar to me.  He...” </p><p>She stopped short and had to keep from biting her tongue in half, as if to bite the very name in half.  Emma watched as the wily Asgardian lowered his eyes to hide a sheepish smile. </p><p>“No.  It can’t be.  Him?  <em>Really</em>?  Certainly you have better taste than that,” she remarked and turned her own eyes away from Loki, as if expecting to see the very person she'd picked up in Loki's thoughts. </p><p>“He...fascinates me.  I’m more curious than anything,” Loki defended and tilted his head to see her looking up the street, almost worried that she’d spotted the man in the flesh.  His hands clasped together and rested on the table, forcing themselves to remain still, unlike the butterflies in his gut.  He hated being found out.  It was so ridiculous to harbor this...crush. </p><p>Emma turned back to look at him and caught the nervousness.  “You thought I saw him, didn’t you?  You thought he was coming up the street, and you were ready to bolt like a boy with his first crush.  Oh Loki.  Of all the people you could find fascinating...could lust after.”  She leaned close and whispered, “Tony Stark?  Take it from me, he’s not all that he presents himself to be to the public.” </p><p>“You...know him well, do you?  You’ve been with him?” Loki asked. </p><p>Leaning back against her chair, Emma stared down at her nails again, trying to find them more interesting than the subject at hand.  “He was a member of the Hellfire Club.  We met there, and in the past, we’ve had...an arrangement.  An arrangement that I don’t really intend to honor anymore.  He’s not...bad, per se.  He’s just not the sort you seek out if you’re looking for a commitment or...someone to remember your name afterward.”  She returned her gaze to Loki and reached out across the table, setting her hands on top of his.  “Surely, there’s someone you’d find more suitable?”</p><p>After seconds of silence, Loki asked her, “Couldn’t you find someone more suitable than Scott Summers?” </p><p>“Touché,” Emma answered.  For a moment, she thought about Loki’s question and how she’d want to answer it.  Finally, it was almost painful to admit, “No.  I don’t think I could, to be quite honest.  Richer?  Of course.  More elegant, more than likely.  Someone who doesn’t come with the epithet of Boy Scout?  Most definitely.  However, Scott Summers offers me more than any man has ever offered me in the past, and that’s respect without intimidation or coercion.  Honor without my forcing it through mind control.  He offers a sense of humor that isn’t as dry and ridiculous as the costumes and titles in the Hellfire Club.  He offers friendship, and...and I believe that somewhere inside that man, where he isn’t hung up on the prom queen, he could return the love of an adult who is tired of games and competition and jumping through hoops to prove himself.”  She held Loki’s gaze across the table.  “And he doesn’t ask me to jump through hoops either.  I could go to him in my White Queen attire or a business suit or flannel pjs with pink bunnies on them, and he could desire me in all three.”  She laughed when Loki gave her a side-eye, as if trying to picture her in the latter.  “I haven’t worn bunnies since I was seven, and I don’t see them making a comeback to my wardrobe, but you understand what I’m saying.” </p><p>“Yes, Ms. Frost, I believe I do,” he answered.  “Scott Summers, in all of his imperfections, is the perfect man for you.  I wish you well in your waiting for him to come to his senses.”  He noticed the annoying waiter coming toward them again, and not wanting to even look at him anymore, he rose to his feet and offered his hand to Emma.  “Let’s continue our discussion elsewhere.  Otherwise, I think our ‘friend’ will continue to vex us.  Perhaps we could do a little window shopping.”</p><p>Emma slipped her hand into Loki’s and stood up, gathering her small handbag and leaving behind the magazine.  “Or we could actually shop.  Retail therapy is really good for bruised hearts,” she replied.  “Or don’t you have something like that on Asgard?” </p><p>While they walked away from the café, and Emma moved her hand from Loki’s to curl instead at his elbow, the mischief-maker answered, “We have shopping, but it’s different.  The clothes and jewelry and weapons are of much finer quality than anything made here on Earth.” </p><p>“I have no doubt about that.  So many inferior stores these days are preferred.” </p><p>Further down the street, but not too far from where she’d parked her car, they’d paused to point and criticize a pair of shoes in the window of a store, and Emma caught the flash of familiar thoughts just as Loki grabbed her hand and tugged her into the shop.  They hovered near the inside of the same window they’d been standing at and watched as Tony Stark walked by, followed by his bodyguard. </p><p>“Smitten,” Emma teased when she realized that Loki hadn’t wanted to run into Tony.  Not that she had any great burning desire to talk to him either.</p><p>“Fascinated.  Not Smitten,” he insisted and brushed off the salesman who started to approach them. </p><p>An arched eyebrow told Loki that Emma believed differently.  “Why don’t you just approach him?  I mean, one on one.  Don’t make it seem like you’re attacking his team where your brother will feel the need to get involved.  Or Steve.”  She rolled her eyes then tugged Loki back out.  She stared down the direction where Tony had disappeared and was just as glad that he was far enough away now that they wouldn’t have to deal with him.  “Tony is usually a reasonable man and will listen to logic.  He’s also a man who enjoys sex a great deal, and if that’s all you’re interested in because you’re <em>fascinated</em>, then I’m sure the two of you can strike a bargain on some...alone time.”  She smirked and once more started down the street. </p><p>“Easy for you to say, Ms. Frost.   You already know what the man is like.  I don’t even know what the attraction is,” Loki told her and peeked once over his shoulder, green eyes filled with a sense of longing that he did not like.  It made him feel as if he lacked complete control over his emotions. </p><p>The two walked in silence past a few more shops, pausing only to glance in the windows.  Finally, she stopped, and while she stared at a gaudy piece of jewelry, she debated whether or not to speak her next comment aloud or via her telepathy; she wondered if Loki would even have natural blocks up against such a thing. </p><p>Risking it, she asked him, <em>What would you do if you were offered a taste of Tony Stark without it </em>actually<em> being Tony Stark?</em></p><p>Loki flinched, but he didn’t overreact or slam his mind shut.  Instead, he replied in like fashion, <em>Just what are you proposing, Ms. Frost?  As easy as it would be to manipulate him into just such a position, I don’t want that.  I want him to come willingly.</em></p><p><em>No no,</em> she corrected.  <em>You misunderstand me.  You and I both possess gifts that...allow us to mask who we really are.  If I’m not mistaken, your powers allow you to change shapes and faces, so you could ideally </em>be<em> anyone you chose to be.  Yes?</em>  Emma received a mental nod from the Asgardian mischief-maker.  <em>And I can create a suggestion so powerful into another’s mind that he could see me as whatever I projected myself as and make it feel as real as it looked.  </em></p><p>
  <em>So what you’re suggesting is that you could be Tony Stark for me, and I could...be Scott Summers for you?  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>And just what would you propose we do with these illusions locked in place?  Romantic dinner for two?  Moonlit strolls through Central Park, hand in hand?  I love yous exchanged while taking a romantic carriage?</em>
</p><p>Emma cut her stare to the god of mischief, her expression one of exasperation.  “No, you silly man.  What I’m suggesting doesn’t involve that kind of sentiment."  <em>No, I’m proposing we go somewhere and sex each other’s brains out, each taking a turn for the other to appear as the object of our interest.  You had it right with what you first said, but I’m not talking about anything involving attachment.  Just an afternoon of sex as each other’s crush.  Perhaps that will...give us a sort of release that we seek that is not being fulfilled right now due to annoying obstacles.</em></p><p>Loki pretended to pay attention to the atrocious jewelry that Emma was sneering at.  Instead, her proposal occupied ninty-eight percent of his thoughts. </p><p><em>Don’t you think that might ruin your chances with Summers?</em>  It was a valid question, and while it wasn’t Loki’s usual way to care about what might upset the applecart, he liked Emma well enough that he would cast his runes for her instead of the other woman.  Even if by all rights, Emma was the ‘other woman’.  <em>He might not look favorably on a woman who winds up in bed with another man – a villain, even – while he’s struggling with the choice between her and his wife.</em></p><p><em>First off, he hasn’t made that choice yet, and there’s no telling when he’ll make it.  He could take weeks to return from wherever he’s hidden himself, and even then not have a decision.  And he could still choose his wife, despite what his feelings for me are.</em>  Emma sighed at that depressing thought.  It was as she’d asked Logan – why did she have to fall in love with Scott Summers?  <em>What I do with my life at this moment is no one’s business, and I’m not in a relationship </em>yet<em>, therefore, I owe fidelity to no one but myself.  If it’s something you think you’d like to do then speak up.  I’ll only make this offer once.</em></p><p>After walking in silence together, Loki finally answered. </p><p>“Very well.  Let’s do this.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The building they entered was the sort where people spoke in hushed tones, as if afraid to disturb the cream and ivory wallpaper touched with shell pink and dotted with gold leaf.  Emma’s nod was greeted by both the doorman and guard with, “Good afternoon, Ms. Frost.”  No one questioned the presence of her companion; no one questioned her.  Ever. </p><p>After a silent ride to her floor, the air crackling with anticipation over their arrangement, Emma led the Asgardian to the door of her apartment.  She swiped a card that looked like any other credit card then she typed in the code, and the door opened.  Still, nothing was said as the two individuals stepped inside.  She heard Loki close the door behind them, the lock clicking into place.  Emma set her purse down and walked over to open the drapes that covered a whole window-wall, just enough to let in the natural light. </p><p>“This is a lovely home, Ms. Frost.  I can picture you in this place easily enough...and not quite as easily in a school surrounded by screaming children who don’t want to do their homework,” Loki complimented.</p><p>“Why is it so hard for people to see me as a teacher?” Emma inquired as she stepped toward the bar.  “Would you care for a drink, Loki?” she asked while she opened the wine fridge and took out a bottle of chardonnay.  While she watched him taking a closer look at the framed prints on the walls, his hands in the pockets of his trousers, she opened the bottle and poured a glass for herself. </p><p>Glancing over at Emma behind the bar, Loki experienced a moment of pure disbelief that even with her powers as strong as they were – perhaps the strongest telepathy around – Emma could convince him that she was Tony Stark for their little...tryst.  Everything about her spoke to her elegance and grace, and the times he’d been around Tony, when they weren’t fighting, Tony could be elegant if he had to be, but mostly, he was brash and arrogant and loud. </p><p>“What you’re having is fine, Ms. Frost,” Loki finally replied as he walked in her direction. </p><p>“Loki, you don’t have to keep calling me Ms. Frost.  It’s Emma, especially if we go through with this little...experiment,” she told him and turned her head so that her blonde ponytail swished off her shoulder and down her back.  She poured a second glass of wine  and walked around the bar, handing one to Loki before she turned and stepped out of the living room and through the door that led into the bedroom. </p><p>A rich chuckle followed her just as he did, his green eyes taking in the room they entered.  The colors were similar – ivory and pearl, but unlike the lobby, the accents were baby blue and platinum instead of pink and gold.  “Very well, <em>Emma</em>.  You are probably in the right.  What we are about to do isn’t exactly formal, is it?” </p><p>She shook her head.  “No.  It’s not.  I’ll admit that while it’s not exactly the sort of illusion I created during my membership with the Hellfire Club, since I never had to be male, the concept isn’t much different.  Only, you’re not a client.  I’d consider you more of an associate.  In a way.” </p><p>“Are we friends now, Emma?” Loki asked, his tone thick like warm caramel drizzled over cold ice cream. </p><p>Emma turned to face him, her wine glass touching her lips, then she lifted her smile away and purred, “Not yet, but I have a feeling that once this is all over, we will be.”</p><p>“So.  How then do we proceed?  This little brainchild was your idea, and I will admit that I am having a difficult time imagining you as Tony Stark.  Should you even make yourself into his likeness, I will still know that it’s you wrapped in illusion," Loki finally broke the thick, flirty silence between them to ask, holding her stare with his own.  </p><p>After taking a sip of her wine, she set it down then tapped a finger to her temple.  “I have ideas about that.  I suspect you can see through most illusions, given your ability to create them, so I’m not going to just suddenly become Tony in front of you.  That would be quite boring.  What I have in mind will be much more fun.  Though you will have to suspend your disbelief for this, Loki.  I’m afraid you’re going to have to trust me and hand over control to me.” </p><p>Loki arched an eyebrow while he took a drink of wine, and he let it rest on his tongue for a moment before he swallowed.  “Under other circumstances, I would not do that, Emma.  Give up control and trust.  I will make an exception this time to see where this experiment shall take me because I don’t believe you have ulterior motives.  Something tells me that you aren’t going to just put me into a vulnerable position in order to turn me over to the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D.” </p><p>Emma laughed and lifted one hand to pat Loki’s face.  “No.  I have no ulterior motives.  I wouldn’t hurt you unless you just asked, and I don’t want to make an unnecessary enemy who could harm my children.  The school has enough enemies,” she replied.  She looked around her bedroom, and her eyes fell on what appeared to be an ordinary cedar chest, and she stretched her memory to remember what she’d left behind that she could use.  It wasn’t as if she’d taken many items of a sexual nature with her to the school.  Not yet.  She’d wanted to gauge the security on her room before she did that. </p><p>“Well then,” Emma went on, returning her eyes to Loki.  “Perhaps it’s time we get started?  I think...perhaps...you should wait in the living room for the moment.  Give me a moment to...set the scene.  Help yourself to the wine or anything else.  I don’t suspect there would be much food in the kitchen.  I haven’t been here in months.”  She thought about it.  “I don’t think I’ve been here in almost a year.”</p><p>“Pity,” Loki replied as he studied her then sipped his wine.  “A refuge like this would be a welcome one, I would think, after a day with unruly children.  And from the sounds of it, annoying, jealous rivals.”  He smiled when Emma rolled her eyes.  “Very well.  I’ll return to the front room and await your summons.  Or should I say...Anthony Stark’s summons?”  He chuckled then turned and strode out of the room, his casual gait reminiscent of a lean wolf or panther – one who already knew the hunt was taken care of but still anticipated the results.  Loki turned around just as he stepped through the door, his fingers curled around the doorknob, and he winked at Emma before he closed the door between them. </p><p>Emma exhaled the breath she held, then she picked up her wine, took a drink, and then placed it once more on the table to set about her task of transforming herself. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>She didn’t require music to put her in the mood for her transformation, though Emma noted with amusement that the moment after she’d completely undressed from all of her clothes and stood in front of the full-length mirror with the proper accoutrements in hand, the guitar strains from both AC/DC and Black Sabbath ground out the usual workings of Tosca from her mind.  While it wasn’t her first choice of go-to music for an erotic scene, it actually made slipping into the soft leather harness, which she buckled at one hip, more like donning the identity before she attached the accompanying piece into place. </p><p>Emma couldn’t help but smile as she wondered what certain prim and proper teachers at the Xavier Institute would think if they could see her like this.  Some would certainly recoil in horror and continue to condemn her for lack of morals.  Others would probably be outwardly shocked and inwardly intrigued.  Still others – and she shuddered to think of it – would react with more interest than she’d care to know they had.  Instead of those thoughts, she poured her concentration on the task at hand. </p><p>Once Emma adjusted the strap-on comfortably, she returned her attention to the mirror.  The telepath pulled several deep breaths in through her nose, filling her lungs.  With each breath, she coaxed her mind into seeing her skin becoming rougher, the darker tan of a man of leisure who spent plenty of time in the sun.  The muscles under her skin from hours of training with the X-Men widened, became noticeable, and bulged out in a way that would have been unattractive on her more nimble form but looked right.  Her breasts disappeared, but her chest widened, became broad, and she couldn’t help but flex the pectorals, feeling the change in movement to what she normally carried around, noticing the scar tissue just around the rim of the arc reactor. </p><p>Emma watched as her whole body transformed from the svelte goddess she’d spent years and money to cultivate into the exercise-driven billionaire playboy Avenger.  As the transformation dipped lower toward her hips and further downward, she concentrated a little harder until the harness and attachment became a part of her...<em>his</em>...skin as well as his cock and testicles as she remembered them.  She smiled, as if the good times they’d shared were sparked in her mind at the mere sight of those genitals alone.  Her gaze trailed down and watched her thighs widen and become as muscled as the upper portion, and eventually, her dainty, pedicured feet were replaced by a man’s shoe-size. </p><p>When the change was complete, Emma stared at her full reflection and smiled.  She lifted her hands and clenched them into fists, feeling Tony’s hands now, and not her own.  When she turned to get a look at the new shoulderblades and spine and backside, she found she could still be amazed by her own powers. </p><p>Next, she stepped into her closet, turned on the light, and walked all the way to the back where she’d made it a habit of keeping a small array of clothes for men.  There were enough times when activities became heated enough to send buttons flying that she felt a small obligation to replace shirts or pants, and who’d have ever guessed that Emma would find herself finding an ensemble to put on herself?  She chose carefully something that both she and Loki would have seen on the likes of Tony Stark – black designer pants with the creases perfect, a wine red button down shirt, which she slid over her arms and shoulders, buttoned up except for the top two, then promptly rolled the sleeves to her elbows.  She decided that a tie was unnecessary while she tucked the shirt in.  After all, this was for play; she wasn’t going out in public like this. </p><p>Though it could be a useful disguise when she had need of it. </p><p>Unfortunately, she didn’t keep men’s shoes or socks around, but they were as unnecessary as the tie.  On that thought, Emma untucked the shirt again and slipped another button free of the eyelet.  She checked out her appearance once more, and worked out a few...Tony-esque gestures, and once she was satisfied with that, she stepped away from the mirror to the center of the room and called out to Loki.  </p><p>“You can come back in now, Loki.” </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“Remarkable.  You even sound like Stark.” </p><p>Loki’s astonishment was as evident in his voice as it was in his eyes as he stalked in a circle around Emma-turned-Tony.  True to form, he still looked down at the mortal, but the likeness was so perfect that he half-wondered if Emma kept Tony stashed away in her closet.  He reached out and touched the shirt, letting out the slightest coo at how soft it was.  How real. </p><p>“I’m really wearing clothes,” the deep voice responded, giving away that Emma was still there to read Loki’s mind, earning a chuckle for the mistake. </p><p>That was followed by Loki’s slender fingers touching ‘Tony’s’ hair, expecting to feel the silken blonde strands underneath the illusion.  Instead, his fingertips brushed against the dark wavy hair that had been tamed with product, giving the Asgardian a jolt.  He met Tony’s brown eyes instead of Emma’s blue, and he just stared. </p><p>“Amazing.  You truly are remarkable, Em...”</p><p>“Tony.  Or Anthony.  Or Stark.  Whichever you normally call me, Loki,” that deeper voice spoke, and a hand lifted to scratch at the itch of goatee on the inventor’s strong chin. </p><p>Loki stood in front of Emma-Tony now and reached out a hand, stroking it down the front of the ‘fondle me’ fabric of his shirt, feeling muscles underneath, not breasts.  “Truly astonishing.”  He gave a short laugh that was comfortable with just a hint of affectionate awkwardness. </p><p>“Very well then.  <em>Anthony</em>.  Though if you wish to be accurate, he often refers to me by strange names involving Midgardian pop culture.  I believe the last time, it was Rudolph and had something to do with the helmet I sometimes wear,” Loki replied, rolling his eyes. </p><p>Emma-Tony chuckled, and it managed to be the deeper, richer chuckle of the Avenger.  “Well, I can see why, but...I think I’ll stick with Loki.  Pop culture nicknames could be amusing, but hardly sexy.”  For the moment, Emma-Tony stood there, allowing Loki’s exploration of this body, enjoying the awe as each caressing hand moved over chest and stomach, up and down arms and shoulders to feel the change in bulk. </p><p>Then one of those hands slipped further down and cupped her groin through the trousers, and Emma-Tony couldn’t keep the grin away at the look of surprise in those green eyes. </p><p>“How...?” Loki asked, wondering if <em>that</em> was all a part of what was an incredible telepathic trick. </p><p>A thicker, decidedly non-feminine finger lifted to Emma-Tony’s lips as the billionaire whispered, “Shhh.  My secret.  Now, <em>darling</em>, just give over.  No more trying to find the loophole.  No more trying to find the woman behind the curtain...or the chinks in the armor.”  A heavy hand lifted to cup the back of Loki’s head, pulling the taller man down while meeting him half-way with the crush of lips upon lips.  “It’s time,” the words were nibbled into Loki’s bottom lip, and the telepath felt the shudder ripple through the Asgardian’s whole body. </p><p>When Loki heard <em>Tony’s voice</em> call him ‘darling’, he felt every nerve-ending pop and sizzle under his skin, shooting tingles all over his body, and the tension and disbelief he’d been trying to hang onto drained out through the soles of his feet and disappeared completely.  And if the word was enough to make the creator of illusions give up his ability to see through them for the moment then it was the kiss that coaxed him into complete surrender.  His hands gripped Tony’s hips and pulled him closer until he felt the press of them against his own. </p><p>The moment <em>Loki</em> emitted the first coo of enjoyment, Tony smiled and withdrew, his dark eyes twinkling with amusement. </p><p>“Smitten.  Very smitten.  And here I heard you were ‘fascinated’.  Please.  You’ve got it bad,” the inventor purred and sauntered back a step, his fingers starting to make quick work of unbuttoning his shirt. </p><p>Loki, however, cleared that distance with such celerity that it appeared as if he’d magicked himself there, when in reality, he was just that dexterous.  He batted Tony’s hands away from the buttons and nimbled them open himself.  A part of him wanted to just rip them open and hear them scatter off the furniture, but the god of mischief knew how to be patient.  He was not his lumbering brother, after all.  He savored the feel of each button slipping free of the eyelets, his thumbs caressing the smooth fastening that didn’t feel like cheap plastic.  Loki couldn’t make out the buttons’ material, but they felt cool like hematite.  As the shirt began to part, he grazed his knuckles along the skin underneath, finding the defined abs to be warm to the touch.  He wasn’t thinking ‘Emma as Tony’ any longer.  The illusion was complete, and he gasped his appreciation when he pushed Tony’s shirt from his shoulders, allowing it to slide off the other man’s arms to the floor. </p><p>Tony tilted his head, watching Loki’s exploration with fascination.  Every good scientist was curious about the reaction to the experiment or invention.  No words were spoken. Breath was quiet.  No strong exhalations to startle his companion.  Gentle inhalation, hitching only when Loki’s fingers touched off of sensitive nipples, which hardened as fingers and thumbs bestowed light pinches.  He remained still throughout Loki’s exploration, watching those fingers touch and stroke and pinch and even scratch along the skin.</p><p>“Is this not pleasing to you, Anthony?” Loki inquired.  “In the past, my touch has elicited moans...sighs...whimpers, indicating whether or not I am causing pleasure or pain...or fear.” </p><p>“Oh this feels good, Loki.  I didn’t want to interrupt you.  You seem to be having a great time playing touchy-touchy with the mechanic,” Tony retorted.  “You’re definitely <em>not</em> causing pain or fear.  I’d make sure you knew that.”  He was surprised by how reserved the god of mischief was behaving; surprised and amused, and he wasn’t sure if he should be more aggressive himself. </p><p>Loki let out a chuckle, his green eyes shimmering in the sunlight that spilled into the bedroom windows.  “Why do I have no doubt, Anthony, that you would have a most...petulant reaction if I were to hurt you?  You’ve never struck me as the silent type.” </p><p>Tony smirked.  “Oh I’m not.  When I’m in the throes of ecstasy, I tend to shout out my own name.” </p><p>“Somehow, this does not surprise me, Anthony,” Loki retorted as he stalked once more over to Tony.  This time, he wasn’t as tentative as he cupped the back of the other man’s head and brought their mouths together in a much firmer kiss.  Heartbeats passed while he explored the taste of those lips, his tongue now pressing to coax them open.  He felt the scratch and tickle of that trimmed goatee, and he wondered how it would feel on his more...sensitive regions. </p><p>“I think,” Loki began, breathless when he pulled back.  “I think, that the time for talking is over.  Perhaps now it’s your turn to show me what you can do, Anthony.  Why your reputation precedes you in the most decadent of gossip.” </p><p>The tall Asgardian stepped back away from Tony Stark, eyes piercing down into the shorter man’s, and in a fluid motion that could have been magic – but wasn’t – he divested himself of his suit jacket, folding it over the back of a chair while unbuttoning the waistcoat to remove it next. </p><p>While Loki undressed, Tony’s eyes followed the movement of those slender fingers, and he unbuttoned his own pants and pushed them off his hips.  When his pants dropped to the floor, Loki turned those piercing eyes to him, as if remembering what was really going on and wanting to catch the zipper in the costume.  So to speak.  But when that finely shaped black eyebrow arched and the look of hunger darkened Loki's eyes, Tony’s smile became the cat's who caught his mouse as he kicked his trousers out of the way and walked toward the God of Mischief. </p><p>“You must like what you see.  I’m not sure I’ve heard that silver tongue go so silent before,” Tony teased.  “Then again, I can find other uses for that tongue that doesn’t involve talking.” </p><p>Loki’s chuckle softened his features and widened his smile, but his hunger never left his eyes.  He made Tony wait while he removed the rest of his clothes, as if he wouldn’t wrinkle his good suit even for the likes of Anthony Stark, billionaire playboy philanthropist by getting on his knees until he was ready to. </p><p>“You mean, <em>this</em> silver tongue?” Loki purred once he knelt down before he flicked his tongue over the tip offered to him. </p><p>Tony resisted the urge to curl his fingers into that lovely, long black hair and tighten them until he could yank hard.  Rough play could come later, once they knew each other better.  One hand stroked along Loki's cheek and jaw, feeling the bones that could cut glass then Tony brought the other hand to the back of his head, encouraging him with a nudge toward his cock to explore to his heart's content. </p><p>"Oh yeah, that silver tongue."  Tony let out a shudder when he felt the pressure of Loki's tongue as it laved from the base to head, flicking along the ridge with centuries of expertise.</p><p>Loki remained silent aside from coos of enjoyment.  His mind surrendered entirely, forgetting that this was an illusion to the point that he tasted Tony's flesh on his tongue, breathed Tony's musk into his nostrils.  He palmed his way up Tony's calves to the back of his thighs, slipping further to squeeze his ass just as an upward lick brought his lips to the tip again.  They parted and wrapped around it, sliding down the shaft like a frozen summer treat. </p><p>One niggling spot in his brain was all he needed to bring one hand around to caress the inside of Tony's thigh, a spark of magic like viridian pixie-light slipping into his skin, and a sudden burst of the pleasure rushed through him as naturally as it should be.  The moment he tongued pleasure along the veiny shaft again, Tony's head dropped back, and his mouth parted to moan with deep and guttural surprise. </p><p>"Fuck.  Loki," Tony whined, and his voice hitched as that unexpected pleasure thrummed through him like Earth's heartbeat reached into him. </p><p>He ran his fingers through the hair at the nape of Loki's neck, caressing sensitive skin and felt the vibrations of the Trickster's moans right through to his balls.  Tony gasped then clamped his bottom lip between his teeth.</p><p>Loki pulled his mouth away and rose to his feet. </p><p>"Fuck Loki?  Oh yes, Anthony.  I <em>insist</em>," he purred. </p><p>Waiting until Tony opened his eyes and met his own, Loki turned then and sauntered toward the large bed and crawled onto it with the grace and purpose of a hungry panther.  He cast a look over his shoulder at Tony and smiled to see his man's gaze fixed on the flex of his muscles. </p><p>"Coming, <em>kærasti</em>?" Loki asked. </p><p>Tony found it difficult to breathe.  Or think.  Or move.  He fixed his eyes on the way Loki moved and licked his lips.  He blinked when Loki spoke his question, but he didn't blush at being caught staring.  He squinted slightly, about to ask Loki what that word meant, but seconds later, he just smiled and started toward the bed.</p><p>"Well, I'm not yet, but I will be soon enough," he answered.  "And you're already calling me 'darling'.  I must have impressed you...for you to be so...<em>fascinated</em>," Tony teased the Asgardian prince.  He bypassed the bed to saunter over to one of the nightstands, tugged open the drawer and plucked out both condom and bottle of lube, peeking over his shoulder to see if Loki watched him. </p><p>In truth, once Loki had sprawled on the bed that rivaled the one in his own bedroom in Asgard, his gaze had fixed on Tony wherever he moved, taking in the muscles that tightened under his skin and relaxed again when he paused at the bedside table. </p><p>"Alright," Loki capitulated at last.  "Perhaps I am the teensiest bit smitten, Anthony, but you're not to let that go to your head.  You'll be no fun if you're gloating the whole time.  Besides, you don't know me well enough yet for me to allow you to gloat during sex," he fussed and rolled over onto his back, as if he were waiting for just the right sunbeam to warm his belly. </p><p>"I knew it," Tony crowed as he set one knee onto the bed and followed it with the other, setting condom and lube down within reach as he leaned over and nuzzled kisses into that exposed stomach.  Back and forth he tickled his goatee across that plane of naked skin until Loki giggled.  Until he made the often called Ice Prince <em>giggle</em>.  "We'll just have to get to know each other better because I'm so good at gloating during sex," Tony teased this would-be lover. </p><p>Loki's cheeks pinkened when he heard that silly laugh come out of his mouth, but when he looked up at Tony and saw the delight on his face, he smiled.  He cupped Tony's cheek, traced his thumb across his lips and slipped it into his mouth when they parted, amused by the look of surprise on his face when he ran it along his tongue. </p><p>"Guess we'd better get to know each other then," Loki agreed.    </p><p>Loki gave himself goosebumps and butterflies just marveling at how handsome Tony was, just admitting out loud that he had more than a passing interest in this human that he'd faced in fights...this human who was a friend to his brother.  He tangled his other hand into Tony's hair and waited to see what he would do next. </p><p>Tony swirled his tongue around Loki's thumb then pulled back and stared into his eyes.  He caressed one hand up the Trickster's leg, tickled his knee, and then inched higher to stroke the insides of his thighs.  Loki parted them, and Tony eased them even further open, tilting his head toward them, brushing his lips over them until he felt that first shudder. </p><p>"Well, I suppose I've learned something new about the Prince of Asgard.  Ticklish thighs...and absolutely loves being kissed there," came Tony's self-satisfied coo, and he edged his body around until he knelt between those parted legs that went on for miles. </p><p>Loki watched Tony shift around until he perched between his knees.  He propped himself up on his elbows, his hair already a wild tumble of raven waves over the tops of his shoulders.  As Tony moved his hands up and down his legs like a silk merchant caressing a new momme of silk, the prince's tongue drifted across his bottom lip and caught a gasp as it left his throat, exposed the moment his head dropped back.  A shiver rushed through him as Tony's hands stroked higher and higher until one curled around his cock and stroked him until he filled that warm palm. </p><p>"You are a tease, Anthony, and you're ha...having entirely too much fun with me."  Loki chuckled at his accusation because he was thoroughly enjoying this lover's exploration of his body. </p><p>The hand that wasn't occupied with Loki's cock moved up to his hip, his thumb stroking along the sharp bone defining his pelvis. </p><p>"You're right on both accounts, Loki," Tony stated without apology and leaned down to warm his cock with his lips, feeling it become more swollen in his grip.  "Should I stop?" </p><p>The first "No!" burst from Loki's mouth as he lifted his head to stare at Tony, one eye hidden behind a curtain of dark hair.  His lungs burned from every deep breath, especially when the fear set in that this would all end if he didn't show the proper appreciation and encouragement for it to continue.  Gentler, he crooned, "No...please don't stop.  I want this very much.  I..."  He licked his lips.  "...need this." </p><p>Tony's smile grew, and he sampled the taste of the Asgardian from base to tip with a deep moan of satisfaction when Loki's hips squirmed.  He flicked his tongue in the same pattern up that veiny shaft then swirled it around like candy just to keep the Trickster on his toes and warmed his lover with his warm breath the moment he whimpered and rolled his hips against the bed. </p><p>"Mmm...someone likes that." </p><p>Loki groaned.  "Do you ever stop talking and just get to the sex, Anthony?"  He gave the inventor his best fussed cat expression, until both men dissolved into laughter.  As soon as that ice was broken, Loki was silenced by Tony's lips wrapping around his cock and sliding all the way down, wet, almost pornographic – to coin an Earth term.  His voice hitched once and disappeared as he fell back against the bed, his toes curling into the high quality duvet. </p><p>Tony said nothing else.  He was too preoccupied driving Loki wild with what his mouth alone could do.  His hands operated without his brain – or perhaps it was in conjunction with his brain on autopilot, Tony didn't analyze it right now – and stroked up and down those powerful legs, fingertips grazing the back of the prince's thighs until he didn't know whether to giggle or moan, making sounds that tried to mesh the two until he sounded like a wild creature Tony had never encountered before except in his imagination.  Those palms drifted higher up Loki's body while Tony's mouth continued to stroke his cock.  One splayed across Loki's warm belly while the other slipped higher over that defined torso, counting ribs before edging to the right and away from him altogether to grasp for the condom and lube he'd set on the bed before he'd become distracted by the feast laid out on his bed. </p><p>Loki clutched at the pillows above his head, his shoulders wriggling into the bed, as if he tried to burrow inside.  His eyes had closed some time ago, and he'd left his dignity behind.  Soft whimpers turned to growls as Tony found ways to pleasure him.  He hadn't felt this exquisite in...far too long, and he'd made a mental note not to ever deny himself this long again.  He heard something rustling in Tony's outstretched hand, and when he opened one eye and tilted his head, he noticed that Tony brought the items from the nightstand into play.  At first, Loki's curiosity nearly got the best of his pride in knowing as much as everyone else in the room – or more, but his Earth experience jostled the better part of his memory, and he realized that both items were meant for enhancing the experience.</p><p>"You...know what these are for, Loki?" Tony asked when he'd caught Loki's inquisitive glance at his hand. </p><p>Pulled back into conscious thought, Loki looked up at Tony, who was now kneeling upright between his legs. </p><p>"Of course, I do, Anthony.  What do you take me for?  A bumpkin in your land of wild delights?  As if I haven't been to Earth many times and sampled from your trees of knowledge," Loki retorted.  "We have...pleasure oil in Asgard, you know, as do many of the surrounding realms and planets.  They just tend to come bottled in colored glass instead of plastic," came his explanation.  "As for the other...well, in Asgard, we have other ways of preventing pregnancy or disease, but your quaint little..."  He wiggled his fingers once he pried them from a pillow, leaving behind impressions.  "...rubber things." </p><p>Tony had to laugh at the way Loki spoke about Earth and her 'quaint little' items, though he spared a second for the fascination of hearing more about the sort of Asgardian culture not usually mentioned over lunch with the Avengers when Thor was in attendance. </p><p>"Well...good.  It's good you know what they are because now I don't have to ruin the mood by explaining," Tony playfully snarked and tore open the condom wrapper with his teeth.  He tossed the foil aside and rested the condom on Loki's stomach while he turned the lube bottle between his palms to warm it then dabbed a drop in the tip of the latex before rolling it down his cock.  Tony caught Loki watching him with that perfect bottom lip tucked between his teeth, and he couldn't resist leaning forward to kiss it free until they were both breathless. </p><p>"Jesus, Loki.  You really want this...you're so hungry for it, I can feel you vibrating," Tony remarked and stared into Loki's eyes, which now seemed to glow the same as his magic glowed. </p><p>Loki touched his hand near the arc reactor in Tony's chest, wanting to feel his heartbeat.  He returned Tony's stare. </p><p>"I really want this, Anthony.  Even my silver tongue can't express how badly I want this," he breathed. </p><p>When it had dawned on him that Tony had attempted to warm the lubricant between his hands, Loki reached out and touched the plastic bottle, and a warm glow spread over it until the liquid inside was the perfect temperature.  He smiled at his would-be lover.</p><p>"It'll stay that way for quite some time," he hinted and spurred Tony out of his amazement. </p><p>"That is a nifty trick," Tony commented and this time applied the warmed lube to his fingers in ample amounts then slipped them between Loki's thighs and began to ease into him, digit by digit.  "Hey now," he crooned when Loki tensed at first and leaned down to press kisses to the prince's stomach until he started to relax.  But Tony was good...experienced; perhaps not with as many years under his belt as Loki could boast, but he hadn't left a playmate unsated since he was decades younger and still green. </p><p>Loki relaxed his shoulders into the bed and willed the rest of his body to follow suit.  After that first sharp surprise of being penetrated, he eased into the pleasure that soon followed.  He arched his head back and rolled his hips, pushing himself onto Tony's fingers, his breath coming in sharp puffs until one long intake exhaled a low moan that made Tony's heart beat faster and his fingers curl inside his partner.  He opened his eyes and watched Tony apply the lubricant to himself as well before closing and tossing the bottle out of the way.  He licked his lips and nodded at the other man, as if wanting to assure him of his consent to take this farther than they already had. </p><p>"No going back," Tony reminded him. </p><p>"Good."  Loki pushed his hips at Tony's fingers then raised them, wanting more. </p><p>Without another word, Tony replaced his fingers with his cock, easing in.  Taking it slow at first.  He caressed his hands over Loki's hips then gripped them as he thrust in with claim on his lover's body.  No more hesitations, no more holding back.  They both wanted this, so now Tony would make good on his desire; he would make good use of Loki's desire and turn this wild experience into a masterpiece neither would forget.  Surprised by the rush of pleasure, Tony moaned deep and buried his face against Loki's neck even as he pushed all the way in.  His lips found the hollow of the prince's throat and hovered there in a kiss, and when Loki ran his hands down Tony's arms, his hands rose up, clasped Loki's and held them above his head, anchoring them to one another. </p><p>Tony's hips started to roll back and forth, and he raised his head, watching Loki's face for any sign of discomfort.  Stamped on that handsome face was only hunger and ecstasy to match his own, so he popped his hips and thrust a little deeper, feeling Loki's moan vibrate all the way through him.  He squeezed Loki's hands and kept moving inside him, feeling the wild sensation of that tight heat gripping him, squeezing him.  It was incredible. </p><p>"Mmm...you look like...like you've experienced a new kind of sex for the first time, Anthony."</p><p>Tony was jolted out of his rhythm by Loki's purr as just the sound of his voice became like a solitary nail caressing up the length of his spine.  He blinked, his smile almost bashful as he met Loki's full-on stare, that impish grin up at him having discovered him stumbling on a surprise.  Loki lifted his head just enough to capture Tony's lips in a kiss he'd feel right down to his toes, and that was even without the added boost of magic that the Trickster had radiated through him earlier. </p><p>"Uh...yes..."  Tony cleared his throat, tightened his grip on Loki's hands, and found his momentum again.  He picked up his cadence, angled his hips and soon drove impassioned cries from Loki's mouth that echoed off of the high ceiling.  He was surprised to hear his own join the prince's, having intended to fully focus on Loki this go-round.  He wouldn't argue or complain.  Tony ceded to the gratification they pushed each other toward, especially when Loki rolled his hips in ways that could only be described as obscene, deserving of their own Pornhub channel. </p><p>Wrapping a leg around Tony's hips and pulling him in harder, Loki arched his back and moaned.  He flexed his fingers and felt Tony withdraw one hand, the other still pinning his hand to the bed.  His body was a bow in Tony's palm as it caressed along his skin, taut, ready to go off with just the right touch.  Loki had no doubt that Tony would pick up that he was close, and it would just be the matter of figuring out the right way to push him over. </p><p>When Loki curled that leg around him, it shifted the tilt of his hips and therefore the angle of his thrusts.  Tony felt the change immediately and groaned at the new wave of pleasure that rippled through him like fire.  He pressed his face to Loki's shoulder and bit down to muffle the howl.  He heard Loki hiss, but neither pulled away, and Tony slid his hand between them, pulling one long moan from the prince when his fingers curled around his cock and began stroking him at the same pace as his thrusts.  Loki lifted his hand and raked his fingers through Tony's hair and turned their faces toward one another, his mouth locking with his partner's.</p><p>They kept at each other, moving together as if they'd been built for it, and just as Tony squeezed and stroked Loki to the cresting point, the prince splayed his hand against the base of Tony's spine.  Both cried out and clutched at each other, entangled as they were in arms and legs and hands.  Tony sank against Loki, ignoring just how sticky they both were now, and he nearly purred when the hand above his ass stroked up his spine until warmth radiated from between his shoulders through his whole body. </p><p>Loki felt Tony tremble against him as his magic coursed through his body, and a sated smile pulled back his lips even before he pressed them to the other man's.  Both were parched, and he wet them with his tongue, kissing Tony's mouth with no particular direction in mind other than to connect longer. </p><p>"That was...mmmm," Tony murmured into the kisses.  He unclasped his hand from around Loki's cock and flexed his fingers.  Slowly, their joined hands let go of each other; they mimicked the gesture until their fingers tingled with feeling again. </p><p>"Yes, that was very <em>mmmmm</em>," Loki answered and let his head fall back into the pillows again.  He stretched underneath Tony and felt that delicious pressure still buried inside him.  Not ebbing in the slightest, which left him inching toward the edge of the moment.  The illusion.  He blinked, but before he could say anything more, Tony hit him with a passionate kiss and thrust his hips into his sensitive body before pulling back and away.  Loki let out the softest of whimpered protests to feel Tony leave his body and watched him slip from the bed, beautiful and somehow rugged for a man of business rather than the battlefield.  Well, not the traditional battlefield that Loki was accustomed to.  "Leaving me already, Anthony?"</p><p>Tony looked down at Loki sprawled on the bed, his breath and voice taken away for the moment.  Then he smiled at the prince's teasing. </p><p>"Not leaving you at all, my prince.  Not for long.  Just going to clean up a little.  I promise," he replied and reached down to squeeze Loki's fingers, a little taken aback by the hint of actual anxiety at his leaving.  "Hey...I'll be back.  Honest."  He smiled and walked to the bathroom, closing the door only part of the way.  Turning on the water in the sink and reaching for push washcloth. </p><p>When the door opened again, Emma had pulled back her hair in a haphazard bun and dressed in a short satin robe.  The last thing she wore currently soaked in the sink, and she carried over the washcloth to the bed, sat beside Loki.  She curled his fingers into hers when he looked up and startled to see her there instead of Tony. </p><p>"I told you I'd be back.  I just didn't warn you that I was coming back as me," Emma apologized, her voice soft.  Soothing.  She moved the warm wet cloth over Loki's stomach and over his hips, down to his sated cock, cleaning him up.  It was a less interesting way than she might have otherwise cleaned up a lover, but then Loki wasn't exactly...a lover, was he? </p><p>She mind-touched the prince in this vulnerable state, not to invade his thoughts.  Just to pick up the surface ones, such as why he'd felt a mild panic at the thought of her...of Tony...of either of them leaving him alone.  Without probing too deep, she skimmed the basics and didn't let him know.</p><p>Except that he did know. </p><p>"You won't find much of interest there, Emma," his voice rumbled, his eyes focused on her. </p><p>Loki continued to lie there, enjoying the sensation of being tended to post-coitus.  His heart returned to its usual rhythm, his breathing calm, and he squeezed the hand that held his before she could flinch away at being discovered tip-toeing in his thoughts. </p><p>"I'm not angry.  It's what you do.  I understand," he assured her. </p><p>Emma laughed and held his hand tighter, stilled the washcloth once she was done with it and it started to cool down.  Before she could set it aside, Loki took it from her and magicked it to...well, she could only assume it was back her the bathroom on the sink, and a quick peek at his mind confirmed it. </p><p>"Well, if you understand then you'll also have to accept that I think your mind would be extremely fascinating, Loki.  You've lived hundreds of years, seen landscapes we can only dream about, and experienced things that would make most of us envious.  Or terrified," Emma stated as she moved closer and leaned down across his chest. </p><p>Loki matched Emma's laughter and reached a hand up to cup her face.  "One day, perhaps, I'll let you traipse through my mind to your heart's content, Lady, but right now, you'll find nothing very coherent.  You're very thorough, and you're very good at what you do.  You have a fantastic mind and talent."  He met her gaze.  "And I still marvel that you use that mind and talent at that school." </p><p>Emma rolled her eyes and nuzzled his hand even as she pinched his side and made him squirm. </p><p>"I like the school, Loki.  I may not like all the other teachers, but I'm not there for them.  I'm there for the children.  I always wanted to teach.  What?  Don't you like children?" she scolded. </p><p>Sighing, Loki turned his eyes to the ceiling.  He felt a delicious warmth still inside him, and soon an equally delicious sleepy buzz would take over, but he discovered he wanted to get to know this woman much more than before.  He wanted her to know him, and that was a rarity. </p><p>"I love children...for the most part.  I always loved my children," Loki began and chuckled when he actually felt Emma's surprise in his thoughts.  "Yes, I have children.  Five...no, six.  Four are...unusual, to say the least, and my twins are just as extraordinary as the other four, even if they're not...like them," he explained and once more met Emma's gaze.  One hand tucked underneath his head while the other caressed down her satin-clad side and rested on her hip. </p><p>"Like the myths?" she asked. </p><p>Loki projected images into Emma's mind of four shapeshifter children and two fraternal boys, none of whom were actually children anymore. </p><p>"I suppose like the myths...from what I've read in one of your libraries."</p><p>"With differences," Emma filled in, and he nodded. </p><p>For several breaths, they were both quiet, connected through touch that could be described as platonic as much as affectionate.  They listened to each other's heartbeats, memorized the features of their faces.  Emma leaned down and kissed the tip of Loki's nose before curling up on her side against him.  Loki rolled over and spooned against her back, one arm wrapped across her waist, hand splayed on her robe-covered stomach.  He nuzzled the back of her neck and closed his eyes. </p><p>"I believe we're going to have a fascinating...and valuable friendship, Loki, Prince of Asgard," Emma said as she laid her hand on top of his. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It was the late afternoon light slipping in through the curtains to warm Emma's face that woke her up.  At the lack of body heat in bed with her, she sat up and looked around.  Loki's clothes were still there, now neatly folded on the dresser, as were 'Tony's'; that made her smile.  Emma reached out with her mind and found him just as she heard the shower running in the <em>en suite</em>. </p><p>Emma stood up and made her way to the bathroom, waltzing into the steam that billowed out once she opened the door wide.  She could see the figure in the shower and slipped the robe from her body, hanging it from the hook on the back of the door. </p><p>"I'm surprised you didn't just magic yourself clean, handsome," she announced her presence while tugging her hair free of the tie she'd used earlier, tossing it to the vanity near the sink. </p><p>Sauntering over to the shower, she opened up the door to more steam puffing out and stepped inside, closing in the heat.  Emma reached out through the steam and stroked her hands along Loki's back, finding his shoulders at a slightly lower point than she expected, but nevertheless, she caressed over them and down his spine.  Her fingers trailed over more muscles than she remembered in the Asgardian prince; not that he was weak or had no muscle definition at all. </p><p>"Magic?  What are you talking about, Em?"</p><p>Emma blinked when Loki turned around, only it wasn't Loki. </p><p>"Scott," she breathed then cleared her throat.  She touched his mind, and it was still Loki, but...he looked and felt exactly like Scott Summers.  Right down to his ruby-lensed glasses.</p><p>"In the flesh, Em.  Who did you think I was?" he teased and stepped back under the oversized square spray above them, tilting his head back, brushing his fingers through his wet hair.  Scott looked at her again and smiled. </p><p>Emma studied Scott.  It wasn't the first time she'd seen him naked, though usually that happened after a mission when the team tended to get mostly naked together in the communal showers after a mission before dispersing to their own private spaces.  Or it happened when therapy turned...less than therapeutic...when they were mind-to-mind. </p><p>"Not sure.  I guess I never expected to find you in my shower.  Or away from the school unless it was on a mission," she retorted and stepped closer to him, under the spray of hot water, pushing her hair out of her face once it was soaked. </p><p>Scott stared at her, licked the water from his lips.</p><p>"I shouldn't be so predictable," he said and reached behind him for the soap – an expensive import from France, from the stamp.  Bastide.  Smelled of neroli and natural oils.  Nothing sharp and pungent like the chemicals in cheap soap bought from a grocery store. </p><p>He wasn't surprised in the least and thought her taste was delightfully luxurious.  Scott lathered the soap between his hands then ran them over Emma's shoulders, down her arms. </p><p>"I don't think you're that predictable, Scott," Emma assured him while the water and soapsuds rolled down her body.  "I don't think you should be anything you don't want to be," she added, her voice hitching back into a gasp when Scott's soapy hands caressed over her collarbone to her breasts.  She met his eyes. </p><p>Well. </p><p>Emma stared into the lenses covering his eyes. </p><p>"Shouldn't even be with me if you don't want to be," she added, it being the one thing she'd told him before...</p><p><em>Don't get mired in the reality, Em.  Enjoy this...enjoy me.  Enjoy </em>us<em> for now.</em></p><p>She was surprised to hear the voice in her mind, but rather than argue, she let it go.  Surrendered to the moment.  To the touch.  She tilted her head back to catch the edge of the spray, combing one hand through the liquid gold falling over her shoulders. </p><p>
  <em>Fair enough.</em>
</p><p>Emma looked down at Scott's hands, which had stopped moving but still cupped her chest.  Her eyebrow arched as she lifted her eyes to Scott's face. </p><p>
  <em>Didn't say to stop.  Don't.</em>
</p><p>Scott's lips pulled back again, and he pulled his hands back long enough to re-lather then set the soap back on the shelf before cupping his palms to her chest. </p><p>"As you wish," he replied and ran his thumbs across her nipples over and over until they were hard and Emma moaned.  Pressed into his hands.  Made her desires clear. </p><p>Emma stepped closer to Scott, backing him closer to the wall, reaching behind him for the soap.  She lathered her hands with it, returned it to its place, and caressed her hands over his chest, memorizing his body as if it could become part of her own fingerprints. </p><p>"You've been my biggest wish for some time," she told him while her hands trailed over his shoulders, his chest, down to skim his stomach and lower before slipping around his waist to caress downward.  She fit each cheek into the curve of her palm, feeling them flex at her touch, drawing a moan from his lips before they lowered to capture her own. </p><p>When Emma's fingertips grazed just above his cock, Scott let out a shuddery breath against her mouth, squeezed gently on her nipples then brushed his hands down her sides and around to mirror the grasp of her backside.</p><p>"Let's see what we can do about that wish then," Scott murmured before rendering all speech unnecessary as his mouth sought more kisses. </p><p>Neither of them pulled apart except for the milliseconds it took for catching breaths, and their hands never moved except to caress over new planes of flesh on each other's bodies.  The only sounds that passed between them were moans and growls, whimpers and sighs, but nothing that could be mistaken for coherent syllables making up words that would break the spell.  Until...</p><p>"More," Emma breathed. </p><p>She reached behind her, took one of Scott's hands from her ass and brought it around to cup against her heat, leaving no doubt as to what she wanted from him.  Scott stroked two fingers along her smooth, soft skin, and he pressed his lips against her throat, tasting her moan against his tongue as she parted her thighs to allow his touch entry.  He slipped those fingers a little further, one stroking her wetter than the shower, the other brushing against her clit.  He laughed against Emma's neck as her sharp gasp turned into a hungered whine and used her distraction to curl his fingers inside her. </p><p>"Is that...enough?" Scott teased and laughed again when a moment of clarity gave Emma the chance to telepathically swat him. </p><p>Scott backed Emma toward the wall, the tile warm because the spray of water covered every inch of this space, and she set one foot on the seating to her right, which opened her even more to his fingers.  He slipped his other hand around to rest against the small of her back while she cupped a palm to the back of his neck.  Her other hand roamed down his chest between them to curl around his cock, and before he could utter one moan, Scott grabbed her hand and pinned it above her head against the tile. </p><p>"Let me," he murmured and watched her face as he slipped his fingers deeper inside her.  Scott locked his fingers with Emma's, and his mouth discovered places on her neck and shoulders that made her shiver and push her hips at his hand. </p><p>Every moan and whine that dropped from Emma's lips like rain hitting garden chimes told Scott where each and every thrust and brush of his digits created pleasure.  He memorized every gasp and quake and groan like the lines of an e.e. cummings poem, tasting each pause, stop, and strangely placed punctuation from the hollow of her throat.  Scott wouldn't let her touch him – not yet.  He kissed his way up to nibble at her earlobe, and when she ground her hips against his hand, his laugh warmed her jaw, and so he curled and twitched his fingers against her pelvic bone until she jerked toward him. </p><p>Scott started to pull his fingers from her heat, but Emma let out a soft snarl and slid her hand from his neck to grasp a handful of his hair, tugging it, glad when his response came as a sharp growl back.  His fingers never moved from her, trailing slick up to her clit to tease circles and make her jump then back down and inside again. </p><p>"Tease," Emma growled as she tugged his head back and stared into those red lenses.  She kissed his mouth and pushed her hips at him once more. </p><p>He kissed her back and nipped at her lips, and when she did the same to his, his heart skipped a hundred beats.  Scott squeezed her hand and pressed the heel of his other one against her, feeling the tremble all through her as she pushed into him.  He spared Emma no mercy, claiming her mouth as much as she took his, breathing in the same breath, back and forth until neither could tell which life began where. </p><p>"Yep," Scott finally whispered between kisses as he rolled his hand against her clit with the in and out and curl of his fingers inside that giving warmth, feeling the way her hunger made her thrust at him, never passive.  No, Emma would never be passive, and that churned the desire in him like a sea that would never tame itself again. </p><p>He never let up the pressure, palming her sex even as she bucked against the carpal point where his wrist and hand met.  Scott growled against her lips just as Emma whined into his.  Then her head tilted back, freeing them both for breath, but hers fueled the cries that bounced off the shower walls around them, raining down hotter than the water that soaked them to the core when she came. </p><p>Emma's grip on Scott's hair remained tight while her whole body shook with release.  Her knees felt weak, but she trusted him not to let her fall.  She tilted her face back down and laughed when they both let out shaky, exhaled moans at the same time. </p><p>"Not many men can hit that...right spot as quickly as you did," she praised and kissed the tip of Scott's nose. </p><p>Slowly, he withdrew his fingers and smiled when it left her even twitchier than she already was.  Scott brought his hand up, made sure to stare her in the eyes, and suckled those fingers between his lips. </p><p>"I'm not like most men, Em.  You know that," came the soft reply once his mouth wasn't full anymore. </p><p>She watched those digits slide in and out of Scott's mouth, and for some reason, that was never a gesture she saw him making.  Perhaps she'd underestimated his salaciousness, even during their more heated...'therapy' sessions.  Even that act was tame compared to what she'd known in her life, but for the Boy Scout, even that little thing seemed a step out of his normal direction. </p><p>"I know very well what you're really like, Scott," Emma stated, her voice like sandpaper over her diamond skin for just that split second. </p><p>Scott kissed her again, and when he felt the tremble in that slightly upraised leg, he shifted just enough, cupped her ass with both hands and lifted her.  He kept her back to the wall and carefully eased her legs around his waist, holding her until she hooked her ankles for her comfort.  His hands stroked up her thighs to her stomach then one slipped around to rest against the base of her spine, his eyes opening to focus on hers, trusting that she'd let him know if any of this wasn't satisfactory.  Scott stared into her gaze even as he pecked out several closed-lipped kisses until she laughed. </p><p>"I want you, ridiculous but nevertheless sexy man," Emma declared and held onto Scott around his shoulders.  She trailed manicured nails across the back of his neck until a shiver traveled down his spine, making him push his hips up to her. </p><p>He didn't even nod in response.  Scott brought his cock to the heat he'd left good and slick and ready, and he steered himself into her.  He had to bury his moan against her throat when her welcoming body wanted to grasp at him with urgency, and instead, Scott steadied his breath and self and took his time to feel every inch of her until he could go no further. </p><p>"Wait," Emma started the moment her brain reminded her to be practical.  "We didn't...you aren't...you don't have..." </p><p>Scott pressed his lips to the hollow of her throat. </p><p>
  <em>Already taken care of.  Trust me.</em>
</p><p>That other voice interrupted only long enough to set her at ease, but his hand at her back tingled in a sudden burst of something <em>other</em>, and then it was gone again, leaving them to this moment. </p><p>Emma gasped when Scott angled his thrusts into her now, drawing out the onset of pleasure, building them up to it.  Her fingers flexed his hair between them, and she rolled her hips to give back as good as she got.  She touched his mind with hers, just a gentle telepathic stroke that he would feel all the way down his spine to his groin in a way that even physical touch couldn't convey. </p><p>At that spark, Scott's moans turned into something indecent and spurred his thrusts to become sharper, driving into her until her own cries were forced from her throat.  He tightened his grip on her ass, felt the firm muscle dimple under his fingers, and pushed up into her over and over, her heat his focus.  Scott lifted his mouth from her throat, kissed her chin, nipped at it until she giggled, and then he supped that laughter from her mouth. </p><p>She loved this man's ability to make her laugh at the same time as he fucked her relentlessly, yet slowly like the adagio on stage, even if they only performed for themselves.  Emma's toes curled when another thrust surged pleasure through her again.  And again with the next one...and the next. </p><p>"More," Emma whispered when her mouth was free to catch a breath. </p><p>Scott growled and nodded then kissed her again, breathing her whines across his tongue even as he tasted her.  He wrapped one arm around her waist and lifted the other arm away, pressing his inner forearm against the tile beside her head.  His fingers stretched out to comb into her hair, palm resting on top of her scalp. </p><p>His thrusts came faster now.  Staccato beats to a song they both heard.  The vocals were their moans, their soft grunts and cries that traveled back and forth across their tongues.  Scott and Emma were lost to this rhythm now, both feeling it build inside them like anticipation from climbing a mountain to the very top.  They were both edging closer to that peak with each snap of his hips into hers.  Emma dug her fingers into his shoulders, his fingers curled into her side where he held her, and her heels dug into his lower back, but the pain only escalated the rush of pleasure in them. </p><p>With each thrust now, their sounds were more frenzied.  Their kisses forgotten, eyes closed, they pushed each other to the apex.  Emma was the first to give in, her fall no less intense as before, and she leaned forward to latch her mouth onto Scott's shoulder, biting down, marking him even as she muffled the higher-pitched cries into his wet and bare skin.  Scott wasn't so far behind her, however, and when she clenched her teeth into his shoulder, timing it with one last long, deep stroke, he shouted as his release buffeted him and left him shaking and clinging to her, the steam making breath feel like soup in his lungs. </p><p>Scott lowered his arm from the wall, wrapped both around Emma as he backed up and maneuvered the step it took to deliver them to the wide seat, which he lowered himself to.  He adjusted them so that Emma's ankles wouldn't be crushed behind his back and the wall but also so that her knees, when she sat astride his lap, wouldn't press into the bench either.  His movements pushed himself up inside her once more, bringing a matching groan from both of them, and then Scott leaned against the wall and held Emma to his chest. </p><p>"That was...," he started, his voice shaky. </p><p>"...<em>amazing</em>," she finished with a purr. </p><p>Both broke out in chuckles, and Emma was the first to lift her face and stare into Scott's.  She longed to remove his glasses, to use her power to hold back his own so that she could look right into his eyes, something that no one else had done since he was a small child.  Instead, her hands caressed along his strong cheekbones, his jaws, and she leaned close to kiss where her fingers trailed. </p><p>"I could use a drink.  What about you?" Emma asked once she thought she could stand without her legs trembling. </p><p>Scott had closed his eyes and surrendered his face to Emma's touch and kisses.  He leaned into them, splayed his hands across her skin.  Their hearts kept a steady rhythm, so strong and close to one another's that it surprised him; it probably surprised Emma, too.  They were so much alike.</p><p>He looked at her through the ruby shades and brought one hand up to stroke her cheek down to her neck and over her shoulder. </p><p>"A drink would be perfect.  I, uh...should probably clean up in here...after you clean up, and I'll join you for that drink," Scott replied. </p><p>When Emma pushed herself from his hips, Scott reached out to steady her while she stood on the tile then he pushed himself to his feet and tugged Emma back under the shower's spray.  This time, cleaning each other was quick, casual, though no less gentle.  It left them with smiles, laughter, and when they were done, Emma kissed Scott's cheek before she stepped from the shower and closed the door.  She grabbed one of the fluffy white towels from the rack on the wall, dried off and then wrapped it around her body, tucking one end-tip just to one side of her chest.  Then she set another on the vanity and pointed to it when she noticed Scott watching her. </p><p>Emma walked out of the bathroom and headed across the bedroom, pausing at a shelf where she kept decanters of whiskey, vodka, and cognac.  She took one stemless balloon snifter from the cabinet underneath and reached for a tumbler for whiskey, knowing it to be a favorite of Scott's.  Thinking better about it, she brought a second snifter to the shelf and poured both with the cognac.  She felt his presence before he announced himself, and she smiled. </p><p>"I suspect you'd like whiskey as much as Scott does, but I think I'll spoil you with something a little more exquisite," Emma stated and turned to see Loki standing there, a towel wrapped around his hips, his hair already combed back until it brushed just past his shoulders like wet raven's feathers. </p><p>Loki chuckled as he walked toward Emma, his canter a half-shy wolf to match that smile on his handsome face, the other half still the confident swagger of a god. </p><p>"I'm familiar with whiskey, and I do quite like it...if it's not cheap, but I am intrigued by your...more exquisite," he told her as he strolled up to her and took the round-bottomed glass that Emma handed him. </p><p>"It's cognac, which is essentially brandy, but like champagne is required to come from the Champagne region of France to be called that, cognac must come from the Cognac region, and it's distilled twice, so it makes it...even better," Emma explained as she leaned against the shelf.  She brought the glass to her lips to breathe it in then took a sip, watching Loki explore and discover the liquor. </p><p>He lifted the glass to his lips, let the scent tickle his nostrils before he let the first swallow roll over his tongue.  Loki breathed deep as it warmed its way down his throat. </p><p>"Magnificent," he sighed.  "You must have paid a pretty penny for this, Emma." </p><p>Emma half-snorted and made the sound dignified just by her regal nature. </p><p>"It's Rémy Martin Black Pearl Louis XIII, and that penny was more like a rare gold coin," she snarked and gave the prince a playful smile.  "I flew to Japan myself to outbid someone you now know...sort of...intimately," Emma hinted and smirked when Loki nearly choked on his third sip. </p><p>"You outbid Anthony Stark for this?  Ohhhh...I feel almost dirty drinking it with you then, given what we were up to earlier." </p><p>Her smile teetered between naughty and sweet, and she wondered if Loki would ever find his way into bed with Tony, and if so, if he'd divulge this afternoon's activities.  Or if he'd just taunt the Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist with his indulging in a cognac that Tony lost to Emma. </p><p>"You'll have to tell him someday, Loki.  About having the cognac with me.  I'm certain he'd love to know that," Emma teased. </p><p>"Oh yes, I'm certain that is the exact seduction tactic I should use to woo the human of my dreams," Loki sassed back.  He walked over to the windows and peered out at the city beyond the curtains.  Somehow, it was already edging toward twilight, the city washed with lavender and blue-gray, though much of it was drowned out by the artificial lights.  Loki hadn't realized so much time had passed.  He took another drink of the cognac.  "Tell me, isn't this normally a spirit best served warm?  Or am I mixing up my Earth liquors?" </p><p>Emma watched him move through her bedroom and stand in the halo of citylight and sunset's glow.  Loki was ethereal with his paler skin and coal black hair.  If she were to use a term from her literature courses in college, she would call him Byronic, and then the thought of Loki actually spending time with the mad, bad, and dangerous to know poet quirked her lips in an amused smile and wondered how long it would take the two of them to either fight or fuck...or both. </p><p>"It's often considered more...elegant when warmed, but it's not a hard and fast rule to drinking it.  I would've warmed ours, but that would've meant digging up wherever I put the warming racks and candles," Emma described as she walked over to the window to stand beside him.  </p><p>Loki looked at her and touched his fingertips to their snifters in a second of incandescence, and now the liquid inside felt warm. </p><p>"Or I could just do that," he boasted and gently tapped his glass against hers. </p><p>"You're just full of tricks and surprises, aren't you, handsome?" </p><p>Emma took in the time by the sky once more. </p><p>"I think I'll order in some dinner.  You'll stay and join me, won't you?" she asked. </p><p>Loki remained where he was, close to her and prismed with colored lights across his skin. </p><p>"I would be delighted to, Emma.  Thank you.  This has turned out to be a much better day than I'd expected.  Truly unforgettable," he answered. </p><p>Emma turned and walked toward her clothes to retrieve her cellphone, peeking over her shoulder to grace him with a look that could only mean more fun. </p><p>"The day's not over yet, my prince," she stated. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Emma stirred under the high quality Egyptian cotton sheets.  Her leg brushed back and connected with another, more muscular leg beside her.  A smile teased her lips as a sound left her like a sleepy cat just having the perfect stretch.  Next to her, Loki sprawled on his back, one arm over his eyes. </p><p>Like Emma's next to him, his body made all the normal happy noises after an afternoon and evening of interesting sex, good liquor, and a scrumptious meal of what Emma had guaranteed as being the best Chinese take-out close to Park Avenue.  Like most Asgardians, his appetite had been huge, but Loki had been delighted to discover that the elegant White Queen could put away nearly as much as he did. </p><p>Loki stretched his hands above his head, clenched into fists, and then he released them and rolled over onto his side.  His hand found the smooth slope of Emma's spine, palmed a caress down to her hip where his fingers curled and pulled her back toward him.  He slid closer until their bodies spooned together, and his hand inched up to fan out across her stomach.  He mouthed sleepy kisses to her shoulder then buried his face in the crook of her neck that smelled of warmth, sweat, and whatever made her hair smell like sweet plums.  A soft moan muffled into her skin, and as if it vibrated through her, an equally soft moan fell from Emma's slightly parted lips. </p><p>She pressed her back into the curve of Loki's body where it fit like the palm to a cheek.  The arm tucked under her head shifted until her hand found Loki's in a similar place, above their heads, and she tangled her fingers with his, squeezing as she urged his hips with her own.  Emma moved her other hand from near her face, slack like it traveled through thick fog, until it alighted onto the back of Loki's hand where she felt the rise and fall of breath with her stomach. </p><p>"Mmmmm...," she murmured and dragged her tongue across her lips.  She pedaled her legs back and forth under the sheets, trying not to become knotted in them.  His breath on her neck, his hand on her belly so close to her heat, and the friction her thighs created when they rubbed together pushed a gasp from her throat that turned into a low whine with an edge of hunger to it. </p><p>Loki turned his face from her throat to once more trace her shoulder with kisses.  He felt Emma nudge his hand down from her stomach, and he caressed the inside of her thigh as he gently parted it from the other, slowly climbing her skin to cup her smooth mound.  Her voice hitched, that need, that hunger unhidden by the drowsy slur that carried it.  Both teetered in that world between awake and asleep, both lingering in the dream world and entirely aware of what their bodies compelled them to do. </p><p>Once Loki's hand needed no more guiding, Emma stretched her arm behind her, fingers tangling in his hair.  When he sought her heat, provoked that first wet response, a moan ground out from her throat, the sound pulsing through her body and into Loki's when his hips rolled against hers. </p><p>"Mmm'Emmm...," he mumbled into her shoulder. </p><p>Loki teased his fingers up and down that sleek skin before parting her, seeking Emma's fire.  He moaned when her body responded, that first moisture that would carry with it a molten need; he was already familiar with that need, and even in his half-awake state, he recognized its call.  Emma's own sounds of want rattled through her chest to his, and Loki clamped his open mouth to her shoulder, teeth barely scraping her skin while he suckled a mark that would need creative hiding for at least a week, and he heard her gasp.  He slid his fingers inside just as he eddied his hips into her backside. </p><p>"...mmm'es...," Emma groaned when she felt the stirring of his cock, and she rolled her ass against it, waking it up even more. </p><p>Emma unclenched her fingers from Loki's hair and tried to navigate between their bodies, but their angles were all wrong; they were both still half in the land of Nod, and twisting too much more would leave them in knots.  Both let out growls, Loki's more muffled than Emma's until he pulled his mouth away from her shoulder.  He unlaced his fingers from her hand above their heads, and pushed himself up against his palm, arm wobbling at first.  Undipping his fingers, Loki turned Emma onto her back and leaned down to warm the upward curve of her ribcage, and then as if he followed an arrow's shaft, he kissed down her stomach past her navel, down and down until his breath warmed her silken mons.</p><p>They moved with a breath's more clarity, Emma's thighs parting, Loki kneeling between them, sliding his hands underneath her legs as he lowered himself more.  His hands hooked over her hips, and, above his mouth, he held her apart so that his tongue could slide directly where his fingers once explored.  He licked at her, focusing the tip of his tongue right at her center as it dipped and curled inside her.  Emma squirmed against his face, whines and soft cries rolling up from her belly to fall from her mouth.  Her hands fell in two directions – one clutched at the pillow underneath her messy flaxen mane, the other reached between her knees to sweep into Loki's hair.  She clenched her toes into the snarled sheets, lifting her head to stare half-lidded at the man between her thighs, her next moan accompanying a light psychic caress. </p><p>Loki raised his eyes, stared up the length of Emma's body, incandescent like a Ljossalfar during the full moon rites, and he met her gaze.  His mouth curled into a smile, his warm chuckle raising goosebumps along her inner thighs.  Fixed on her watching him, Loki let her see his tongue lave up from her sex and then flick across her clit, up and down, spiraling around that hub of nerve endings until they all lit up.  Emma's hand dropped from Loki's head, and she bit down on her wrist to muffle her whines before letting it fall the rest of the way to grasp at his fingers that parted her.  Every lick drove her closer, every gentle nip and suck to each fleshy lip drummed her heart in her chest until she had to strive harder to catch her breath.  She squeezed his fingers, urgent. </p><p><em>Please</em>, Emma mind-spoke to him. </p><p>Even her telepathic supplication conveyed her need.  It echoed in every corner of his mind, stroked at the edges.  Loki gave one more lick that drove soft cry from her throat, and then he pushed himself upright, bowing only to press a warm kiss to her stomach. </p><p>Cupping her hips as he moved closer to her, Loki slid his hands further up her back and raised her to his lap.  Emma's arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he could feel the breath she held, waiting for him to thrust up into her, but instead, he turned until he could lower himself backward, his spine pressed into the firm mattress.  As they both adjusted to this new posture, he guided his cock inside, arching up as Emma pushed down and met his hips.  Her hands splayed across his sternum, and she used her strength to propel her back and forth, up and down his length inside her. </p><p>Loki felt the way Emma coiled her hips while she found her cadence, his hands cupped at her hips.  His first moans as her heat gripped him were deep and hoarse, as if she knocked all the wind from his lungs, and all he could do was stare up at her through eyes still somewhat unfocused.  So elegant and composed in the daylight, this night-Emma was as chaotic as Nature herself, her golden encolure tossed and tousled around her face; all those tresses needed were spring leaves caught in them to complete her transformation.  What moon and manmade light slipped through the scant parting of the curtains turned her glow into that of a Vanaheim wood moth; the dames of their species the most beautiful...the most insidious and deadly, for no one ever saw them until the dame wanted to be seen, which was right before the moment she fluttered her wing-dust against a trespasser's eye, only to blind him first before the rest of her charms left him to Helheim just days later. </p><p>The prince found himself in that moment giving every beat of his heart to this queen. </p><p>Flexing her fingers until Loki's skin whitened further at those dimples, Emma changed the direction of her rolling hips until it pulled a sharp bark of pleasure from the Trickster's throat.  His surprise brought a throaty chuckle from her lips, which she lowered to brush against the arched hollow of his neck.  She tasted the pulse of his moan, which lifted to the ceiling like an orison as her sex claimed his in more determined momentum.  Loki caressed his palms up his sides, the joints just under his fingers bumping against her ribs, counting them like prayer beads.  Just as his hands moved to cup and stroke her breasts, Emma shifted her mouth to his, her tongue moistening both until they locked together with ease.  He began to squeeze her in perfect time with her thrusts, only he was gentle while Emma became a tempest's waves, crashing against him. </p><p>"E...Em...," Loki's whimpers rolled along her tongue before he demanded more kisses.  By morning, their lips would be bruised.  By morning, everything would be bruised, but if that mattered to either of them, it didn't slow them. </p><p><em>Yes...yes...</em>, came from her mind, strong but still breathless with her passion. </p><p>Emma's psychic cries in his mind compelled Loki to thrust his hips up to meet hers with the vigor with which she rode him.  He raised his hands away from her chest to cradle her face, his tongue looping and playing with hers.  Growls and soft laughter exchanged in a back and forth between their mouths, language belonging to lovers when no other words were needed.  They moved together in long, quick strides that counted the strokes until release would topple them.  Loki caressed his thumbs along Emma's jaw until she grabbed his hands and pinned them above his head, lowering her body until they could feel each other's heartbeats.  She rocked her body onto his, her clit now grinding against him, leaving her gasping against his mouth, and when Emma came, it was with Loki's name burst from her lips like a ripe grape. </p><p>It was when her dam burst and her heat gripped at his cock that Loki spurred toward his own climax.  With Emma still locking his hands to the pillows, the prince couldn't claim purchase to her hips, but he thrust into her sex with a fraction of his Asgardian strength until even his iron willpower surrendered to the desires of his body.  Loki arched up, pushed inside her and held as still as moonlight as he gave in to the rushing tide.  He growled some exultation in his native tongue, but otherwise, no coherent language left his mouth, and even when he was at last sated, only whimpers escaped him. </p><p>Emma kissed those sounds from him and slowly released his hands, her fingertips like the softest feathers as they trailed from his wrists' tender veins up to the ticklish bend of his elbows.  Up and up until they raised gooseflesh all across his chest and rucked up his nipples, especially when she bowed her head to blow an icy breath across both. </p><p>"Ahhh...," Loki moaned as both the delicious tickles and her breath left him feeling euphoric in the wake of such terrific sex.  As if he was touched by the otherworldly. </p><p>Loki stared up into Emma's eyes, like shimmering moonstone in the way the outside lights washed away their blue.  She noticed that his eyes were the same, their green vanished, leaving them diaphanous and unreal.  Taking Emma's hands into his own, Loki brought them close, kissed her wrists and felt the blood pulse beneath her palms, which he then brushed his lips to, each one at the heart.  Emma lowered her head, touching kisses to Loki's brow, to each eyelid, his cheekbones, and finally his lips as her body drooped against his.  He wrapped her in his arms, gesturing with one hand so that his <em>seiðr</em> brought the sheets to cover them, untangled.  Loki gave Emma his shoulder to pillow her head and spanned his touch across her back to hold her, safe in his affection and friendship. </p><p>As the night wound its way into timelessness with their soft, even breaths, sleep nested them once more.  Whatever struggles they spoke to each other of earlier in the day dissipated like fog. </p><p>Even the insistent ringing of Emma's cellphone moments after didn't disturb her. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>EPILOGUE</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He clutched the phone in his hand so hard that his knuckles were white.  With an ounce more kinetic pressure, he would shatter the fragile technology into pieces. </p><p>Sebastian Shaw stared at the stage of one of the most prominent of the Hellfire Club's locations, the vein in his forehead matching the violent throb of the one at the side of his neck. </p><p>And her goddamn phone kept going to voicemail.</p><p>Giving in after the tenth unanswered try, he snarled after her voice instructed him to leave a message. </p><p>"What in the hell is this nonsense, Emma?  Why did you send...<em>this</em> to me?  What did you hope to accomplish?" </p><p>His eyes remained riveted in disgust at the stage, just the same as what few clients remained after this spectacle started while all of the others – the ones with the deepest pockets – had walked out murmuring to themselves that the entertainment had certainly gone downhill. </p><p>No one knew where the human of lower than average height came from or why he thought he could just walk into the Hellfire Club without invitation.  No one knew why he walked up on the stage as if he belonged there.  No one knew why he wore an old, beige, rain-mottled trenchcoat out on a spring night with a clear sky.</p><p>And no one knew why this strange little man pulled his greasy hair out of its ponytail, stripped out of the coat, and danced now, barefoot, and wearing only an ill-fitting lime green g-string as if he were a famous burlesque queen. </p><p>Not a single person in the club, not even Shaw himself, noticed the glazed look in his eyes as he followed only what his mind had told him to do from the moment he finished his shift at the café. </p>
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